Reggae One Drop drum pattern
Beat 1 stays open; kick and cross-stick meet on beat 3 under offbeat hats, with soft hat ticks on 1, 2 and 4 and beat 3 left clear for the drop. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 78 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Reggae One Drop
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a. The pattern is one bar of 4/4 (16th-note grid).
The Reggae One Drop pattern, hit by hit
Each character is one step of the grid and each group is one beat. X is an accented hit, x a normal hit, o a quiet or ghost note and - a rest.
| Voice | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Kick | ---- ---- X--- ---- |
| Cross-stick | ---- ---- X--- ---- |
| Closed hat | o-x- o-x- --x- o-x- |
Tempo and feel
The silence on 1 is structural. Offbeats float while beat 3 carries the weight. The default tempo is 78 BPM. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Reggae One Drop
Do not fill beat 1 with the kick or snare. Keep offbeat hats even and the ticks on 1, 2 and 4 well below them. Land kick and cross-stick together on 3.
Variations to try next
Use snare instead of cross-stick. Drop the soft ticks and keep only the offbeat hats. Add a quiet pickup before 3.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Bob Marley and the Wailers - One Drop, Bob Marley and the Wailers - Stir It Up and Bob Marley and the Wailers - Three Little Birds. A style study of the one drop, the heartbeat of roots reggae: nothing on beat 1, and kick and cross-stick dropping together on beat 3. Carlton Barrett of Bob Marley and the Wailers is the drummer most associated with it, and Marley named a song after it, "One Drop" on Survival (1979). It is authored for practice, not transcribed.